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REPORT 



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COMMITTEE OF THE OVERSEERS 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



CONCERNING THE 



REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION 



TO THE 



UNIVERSITY. 



SALEM: 

PRINTED AT THE GAZETTE OFFIC] 

1845. 



EEPORT. 



The Committee to whom was referred the following resolu- 
tion, viz : '' That this Board do not advise an increase in the 
requirements for admission to Harvard College," have consid- 
ered that subject, and respectfully submit the following 
Report. 

It was deemed important by the Committee to ascertain the 
requisitions for admission to the other principal Colleges in New 
England, as well as at Harvard. They accordingly applied 
to the Presidents or other instructors of those institutions, who 
all promptly replied to the inquiries made of them, and kindly 
furnished the requisite information. Two tabular statements 
are annexed to this report ; one, of the text books in which 
candidates for admission to Harvard University have been ex- 
amined, from the year 1833 to the present time, and the other 
showing the present requirements for admission to Harvard, 
Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, Brown, Amherst, and Bowdoin 
Colleges. As might be expected among institutions formed 
essentially after the same model, there is a considerable de- 
gree of similarity in the preparatory course. The requisitions 
at Harvard are, however, greater than at any other College, 
particularly in mathematics. Our University has taken the 
lead in enlarging -the course of preparatory studies, as might 
be expected of her from her age, her numerous endowments, 
her extended means of instruction, and the high condition of 
the preparatory schools in the vicinity, and from which a large 
proportion of her students come. Other Colleges have with 



laadable pride followed her example, and have added to their 
requirements from time to time, until the standard for admis- 
sion to the New England Colleges has been generally raised. 
The Committee are also informed, that they have imitated the 
well knovv-n example of Harvard, in making their examina- 
tions for admission more strict and thorough than they formerly 
were. They have great pleasure in stating their belief, that 
the remark of President Hopkins, respecting Williams College, 
is applicable to the Collegiate Institutions of New England, 
generally. " It is not to be inferred from the circumstance that 
the requirements for admission have not been recently increas- 
ed, that the standard of College education has not been raised. 
The examinations for entrance have been made more thorough, 
and the course of College studies has been changed, condensed, 
and improved, and as I think, the habits of study are more 
thorough.'' 

The question whether it is expedient to increase the requisi- 
tions for admission to Harvard College, is one of great impor- 
tance, and might lead to a A^ery extensive enquiry. The topic 
is intimately connected with the interests of the Institution and 
with the public interests ; but the Committee have come to an 
opinion which renders it unnecessary to consider the subject 
at any great length. However important an increase might 
be to the interests of learning, and the promotion of a high 
and thorough intellectual education, it is evident that a change, 
to be salutary, must be gradual, among other reasons, on 
account of the state of our Schools and Academies. A learn- 
ed Professor of one of our most respectable Colleges,* writes — 
"We found it very difficult to bring our Academies up to the 
present terms, so as to have our pupils as well fitted as they 
ought to be ; and we are making efforts to render Academic 
instruction more thorough." There can be no doubt that raid- 
ing the standard for admission to College, would have a bene- 
ficial influence on the preparatory Schools. Doctor Wayland, 
in his excellent treatise, " Thoughts on the present Collegiate 
system in the United States," remarks, (p. 10.5,) "It is certain- 
ly practicable to enlarge our requirements for admission. We 
may demand a much more thorough and scholar-like acquain- 
tance with Latin, Greek, Arithmetic, the elements of Mathe- 



* Bowdoin. 



matics, Geography, History, ancient and modern, and the 
English language. The benefits of such a change would be 
manifold. It would materially improve the condition of all our 
Academies. It would render the office of Teacher of far greater 
consequence, as it would require more thorough scholarship, 
and command a higher remuneration. In England, the Teach- 
ers of the preparatory Schools, hold a rank among the ablest 
and most distinguished of her scholars. The masters of West- 
minster and Eton, of Rugby and Harrow, stand side by side 
with Bishops and heads of Colleges. There is no man in 
Great Britain at this moment, enjoying a more enviable or a 
better deserved reputation than Dr. Arnold, the beloved and 
revered master of Rugby.* Why should it not be so here ? 
Why should our Academies be so frequently committed to 
young men preparing for the professions, who only teach for 
the sake of the emolument of two or three years labor, and then 
abandon the occupation forever ? Just in proportion as we re- 
quire more, will more be done by Academies, and the more 
that is done there, the higher will be the rank, and the more 
pleasant the situation of the Principal." These and other re- 
marks of the learned and experienced author, on this subject, 
are entitled to the serious consideration of all, to whom the care 
of oar highest Seminaries of learning is committed. The 
committee take the liberty of quoting another passage from the 
same work. "The advantages to scholarship from this alter- 
ation are equally obvious. With more thorough knowledge 
and a more mature understanding, the student would more 
fully appreciate the value of time, and more accurately estimate 
the bearing of his present diligence upon his ultimate success. 
He would be the better able to put forth his already developing 
powers of original investigation. He would feel in some de- 
gree, his ability to enquire for truth for himself, and not merely 
to treasure np the knowledge which is contained in text books. 
His mental occupations would thus assimilate more nearly to 
those in which he is to be engaged in professional life; and I 
cannot but believe that the result would be a more manly, in- 
tellectual stature, and a fuller and freer mental development." 
But however desirable it may be to raise the standard of 
Collegiate education, no great change, nothing like a revolution 

* Whose recent decease is universally lamented, as a great loss to the cause of public 
education. 



can be suddenly effected, without great injury. Harvard Col- 
lege is coeval with Massachusetts — it has become interwoven 
with the usages of our society. The requirements for admis- 
sion must be influenced by the state of public sentiment ; and 
at the same time it is an important duty of her Instructors and 
Yisitors, to correct and elevate public opinion on this subject, 
as far as may be in their power, and to impress upon the com- 
munity a sense of the necessity of gradually raising the stand- 
ard of liberal education. Harvard is now furnished with the 
means of obtaining a thorough and extensive University edu- 
cation — but it is manifest that these cannot be available, as 
they ought to be, if a portion of the few years of residence at 
the University must be devoted to elementary studies, which 
might as well be pursued at the preparatory Schools. Science 
has been greatly advanced and is advancing. New studies 
have from time tOjtime been introduced — we may almost say, 
been crowded into the Collegiate course, until a large portion 
of time is devoted to subjects, not formerly required. This is 
unavoidable, if the Institution is to keep pace with the pro- 
gress of science and literature. There will be danger, therefore, 
that the attainments of the students, in all, will necessarily be 
superficial, unless higher requirements for admission are estab- 
lished. We boast much that we live in an age of improve- 
ment, and still more that we live in a country which is rapid- 
ly advancing in wealth, population, and other resources which 
make a nation great and powerful. We flatter ourselves also, 
especially in Massachusetts, that our common schools have 
been greatly improved. New spirit has been infused into 
them. Surely our highest seminaries should not remain sta- 
tionary. If they do not lead the way, they should partake of 
this spirit of progress, in education. 

The principal objection to an increase of requirements for 
admission is the additional expense it would cause, and the 
greater time which must be passed in preparation. But is it 
wise to keep down the standard of University education on ac- 
count of this inconvenience ? Besides, it is believed that the 
evil would be loss in reality than in apprehension, and that in 
a great degree it would be temporary only. New facilities are 
constantly furnished for preparatory education, by improved 
text books and editions of classical works, so that it has been 



found that students are admitted at as early an age as they 
were when the preparatory course was much more hmited than 
it now is. It is, indeed, a matter of complaint and of deep 
regret, that a large portion of the students are entered at too 
early an age to master the studies required at College, and to 
derive the full benefit of a University education — too early, it 
is to be feared, rightly to estimate the true value of time, or 
to regulate their own studies, judiciously. Our highest stand- 
ard of College education is so low, that as has been remarked, 
''an intelligent and industrious youth of sixteen, may easily 
reach the first University honors of the country," and it must 
be added, ''with attainments which would barely qualify him 
to enter a European University."^ 

The learned and eminent men who preside over the other 
principal Colleges in New England, and whose experience en- 
titles their opinion to the highest respect, all concur in the 
opinion that the value of Collegiate education is much lessened 
by the limited course of preparatory instruction. This is the re- 
sult of their observation and experience. President Day, of Yale 
College, remarks, "the guardians and instructors of this Col- 
lege are desirous of making further additions to the terms of 
admission, as soon and as fast as the public voice is prepared 
to accede to the change. The value of an education here, is 
manifestly impaired, by the imperfect attainments required for 
admission. Our whole Collegiate course is embarrassed, by 
crowding into it sucj^ branches as ought to be required for ad- 
mittance into the freshman class. But a large portion of the 
parents, who are desirous of giving the name, at least, of a 
liberal education to their children, are already impatient of the 
amount of time and expense, which the courses of study in our 
Colleges and preparatory Schools require." 

Doctor Wayland, in his communication, says, "We have 
long and sorely felt the evils of this imperfect preparation. It 
renders high and scholar-like attainments within the period 
allotted to a Collegiate course, absolutely impossible. I have 
had frequent occasion to reflect on the topics suggested in the 
latter part of your letter — my view of the subject is briefly 
this: — I think that the inquiries which you propose, proceed 
upon an erroneous view of the duties of the guardians of a 

♦ North American,— Jan. 1845— p. 45. 



I 



8 

University. I suppose their duty to be, to provide a course of 
instruction that shall correspond with the present state of 
knowledge in the civilized world. This should be the simple 
object at which they should aim. Their ability to accomplish 
it must, of course, be limited by their means. To enable them 
to do it, I suppose to be the object of endowmerUs. It is their 
business to prepare a course of instruction, neither for the rich 
nor the poor, but a course of instruction adapted to the progress 
of science^ and the coudition of the age. But it will be asked, 
what is to be done for young men of genius, who are indigent ? 
The answer to this question 1 think comes under the duties of 
benevolence, and is entirely distinct from the other. If an in- 
digent man of talents desire an education, let him be aided by 
private or public munificence. Let us first make our course of 
education such as the wants of civilization require, and then 
make provision by which indigent talent may avail itself of its 
advantages. It seems to me a fatal error, to limit the highest 
course of education in a country, by the pecuniary ability of 
the indigent. Ail the means of education* should be equally 
open to all. A poor man, if he have talent, should be enabled 
to cultivate it — but a poor man would be very unreasonable 
who should demand that no better education should be givea, 
than came within his means. Let the duty of providing for 
the community the opportunity of the highest intellectual cul- 
ture be separated from the duty of assisting deserving persons 
to avail themselves of this opportunity, and I think the diffi- 
culties which seem to surround this question will in a great de- 
gree vanish." 

President Humphrey writes, "It has been our wish to raise 
the standard, but it being as high as in most of the New Eng- 
land Colleges, for obvious reasons we have not been able to do 
it. My own decided opinion is, that a more thorough prepar- 
ation ought to be required. It does not become a young and 
aspiring country like ours, to suffer its literary standard to re- 
main stationary. There should be a gradual advance in our 
higher Seminaries, as well as in our common Schools. It 
would be a great advantage if another year or half year of 
study could be added, before the student enters. Poverty and 
competition are the obstacles which lie in the way of such a 
requisition. It is not so with your University and perhaps 



one or two other public Institutions in New England ; but it is 
the case with most of them. They must have term bills to pay 
the salaries of the instructors — to get term bills they must have 
students, and if one should require much more Greek and Lat- 
in than the rest, other doors which stand wider open, would get 
the scholars. 

" It has long seemed to me exceedingly desirable, that by con- 
vention or otherwise, the Colleges should have an understand- 
ing, if possible an agreement^ on this and some other points of 
vital importance to the advancement of literature and sound 
learning in this country. It would seem as if New England 
might, though I am afraid there are difficulties which would 
be found almost insurmountable." 

President Lord, of Dartmouth College, is of the same opin- 
ion. They have raised the requirements for admission within 
a few years ; and he says, " In these requirements, the College 
is exact." — " We have intended to advance as fast as possible, 
but without forcing and without experimenting too far and too 
rapidly for society as it is constituted within our range." 

These opinions, coming as they do from the honored and 
distinguished men who have long been at the head of some of 
our highest and best established literary institutions, are full 
of instruction on this subject, and are entitled to great con- 
sideration. 

Upon the consideration which they have been able to give 
this important subject, the Committee cannot therefore recom- 
mend the adoption of the resolution referred to them, because 
an inference might be made from it, unfavorable to any future 
increase of requirements for admission to the College, and that 
it is the opinion of this Board, that Harvard should remain 
stationary in that respect. It might operate as a restraint up- 
on the Faculty and the Corporation, should they hereafter wish 
to raise the standard for admission. They have all come to the 
opinion, that no action on the subject, on the part of this Board, 
is necessary or expedient. They have ascertained from the Pres- 
ident of the University, that no change or increase of studies 
for admission is at present contemplated by the Faculty or the 
Corporation, who have the immediate care of this subject, and 
oversight of the institution. From the constitution of this 
Board, the number of its members, and the circumstance that 



10 

a large majority are annually elected, it is not so well calcu- 
lated as the Boards more closely connected with the Univer- 
sity, for the wise direction of this subject. It must be left 
principally to the care of those officers a,nd instructors who 
are resident at the College, and whose duty it is to watch over 
its interests from day to day with anxious and unceasing vigi- 
ilance, and who have the best means of knowledge, as to its 
wants, and what will increase its prosperity and usefulness. 
In the opinion of the Committee, this subject has hitherto re- 
ceived their faithful and judicious attention. They have wise- 
ly enlarged the preparatory course of studies from time to 
time, as the condition of the preparatory schools, the state of 
public opinion, and the requirements of other Colleges have ren- 
dered expedient, until in the opinion of all the Committee, they 
have been raised to a point as high as is at present advisable. 
They do not therefore recommend an increase of the require- 
ments for admission ; but they trust that the subject, which is 
of vital importance to the interests of sound learning, and a 
high moral and intellectual cultivation in our Commonwealth 
and in the country, will at all times receive that careful con- 
sideration to which it is entitled. It must be the anxious de- 
sire of this Board and of all connected with our ancient Uni- 
versity, and of the people of the Commonwealth, that this 
great Institution, the object of the pride and the affection of 
our Fathers, through all preceding generations, with its noble 
library, it extensive apparatus and its numerous endowments, 
should fully meet the views and anticipations of its liberal 
founders and benefactors, and that Harvard should take the 
lead in introducing and establishing whatever improvements 
will promote the cause of sound learning, and of a high, thor- 
ough and truly liberal education. 

Respectfully submitted by 

L. SALTONSTALL, 

For the Com/mittee. 
February 27th, 1845. 



REaUIREMENTS AT HARVARD COLLEGE. 

Candidates for admission to Harvard College, from 1833 to 
1844, have been examined in the following text books, viz : 

In 1833. Latin. — Virgil ; Cicero's Select Orations ; Sallust ; 
Latin Grammar (Gould's Adams) ; Writing Latin ; Prosody. 

Greek. — Jacobs' Greek Reader ; the Four Gospels ; Glouces- 
ter Grammar ; (Bullman's and Fisk's also received) ; Writing 
Greek ; Prosody. 

Mathematics. — Lacroix's Arithmetic ; Euler's Algebra ; and 
in Worcester's Elements of Geography, Ancient and Modern. 

In 1834 and 1835. The same. 

In 1836. Csesar substituted for Sallust. 

In 1837. The same. 

In 1838. Latin Grammar; Gould's Adams or Andrews' and 
Stoddard's. 

In 1839. Greek Grammar, Sophocles' or Buttman's, Fisk or 
Gloucester. 

In 1840. Felton'& or Jacobs' Greek Reader introduced. 

In 1841. Writing Greek, with accents. In Mathematics — 
Davies' or Lacroix's Arithmetic ; Euler's Algebra, or Davies' 
First Lessons in Algebra. 

In 1842. Andrews' and Stoddard's Latin Grammar requir- 
ed. Also, Felton's Greek Reader and Sophocles' Greek Gram- 
mar. The Four Gospels discontinued. In Mathematics — 
Euler's Algebra, or Davies', to Extract of the Square Root; 
and Introduction to Geometry, to VII. of Proportions. 

HARVARD AND OTHER COLLEGES. 

Candidates for admission to the Colleges mentioned below^ 
were examined in 1844, in the following text books and 
studies, viz : 

Harvard College. 

Latin. — Virgil; Caesar; Cicero's Select Orations; Andrews' 
and Stoddard's Latin Grammar ; Writing Latin ; Prosody. 

G^ree^.— Sophocles' Greek Grammar ; Felton's Greek Read- 
er; Writing Greek, with the accents ; Prosody. 

Mathematics.— Bdivies' and Lacroix's Arithmetic; Euler's 



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Algebra, or Davies' First Lessons to Extraction of the Square 
Root; Introduction to Geometry, to YIL of Proportions ; Wor- 
cester's Geography, Ancient and Modern. 
Yale College. 

Latin. — Virgil; Sallust; Cicero's select Orations ; Andrews' 
Stoddard's Grammar ; Andrews' Latin Exercises ; Prosody. 

Greek. — Greek Reader, (Jacobs', Colton's or Felton's.) The 
first three books of Xenophon's Anabasis ; Goodridge's or So- 
phocles' Greek Grammar. Also, in Arithmetic, English Gram- 
mar and Geography. 

Dartmouth College. 

Latin. — Virgil ; Sallust ; Cicero's Select Orations ; Prosody. 

Greek. — The Four Gospels ; Jacobs' Greek Reader, or 
equivalent ; Prosody. 

Arithmetic, and Bourdon's Algebra through Equations of 
the first degree. Grammar — English, Latin and Greek. 
Williams College. 

Latin. — Virgil ; Cicero's Select Orations ; Sallust or Caesar. 

Greek. — Greek Testament and Dalzel's Coll. Gr. Minora, or 
the Gospels and Jacobs' Greek Reader. 

Grammar, English, Latin and Greek ; Arithmetic ; Algebra 
through single Equations ; Geography. 
Brown University. 

Latin. — Virgil; Cicero's Select Orations; Caesar; Andrews' 
and Stoddard's Latin Grammar ; Writing Latin. 

Greek. — Jacobs', Felton's or Colton's Greek Reader ; Kuh- 
ner's Greek Grammar ; Writing Greek. 

Arithmetic ; Algebra to Quad. Equations ; Geography, An- 
cient and Modern, and English Grammar. 
Amherst College. 

Latin. — Virgil ; Cicero's Select Orations ; Sallust or Caesar; 
Andrew's or Stoddard's Latin Grammar ; Writing Latin. 

Greek. — Kuhner's or Sophocles' Grammar ; the Four Gos- 
pels ; Jacobs' Greek Reader, or an equivalent. 

Arithmetic ; Murray's or Webster's English Grammar. 
BowDoiN College. 

Latin. — Virgil ; Cicero's Select Orations ; Sallust ; Writing 
Latin. 

Greek. — The Gospels ; Jacobs' or Felton's Greek Reader. 

Arithmetic ; Six Sections in Smyth's Algebra ; Geography, 
(Morse, Worcester or Woodbridge.) 



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